Mr Brighside
by gingerbread11
Summary: A short Janto one shot based on the song 'Mr Brightside' by the killers; Ianto finds Jack and Gwen alone in the hub together late one evening, but is the situation really as it first seems?


**A/N:** _Hello! I am officially deleting 'Girl Put Your Records On' today, but as with this chapter I will be uploading all of the seperate stories from that fic as one shots. Here is the first chapter from the old story, for those who haven't read it before or read any of that story, the chapters were based on songs from my iPod that came up on shuffle and this chapter is based on Mr Brightside by the Killers. _

__NB: I am only going to say this once (it's too much effort to keep writing it!) as predicted I own nothing sadly, all characters etc are properties of the BBC and Russell and the gang and the Killers of course.__

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><p>Ianto Jones sat hunched over his desk down in the depths of the archives, his arms folded out across the surface, with his heavy head resting on top of them. He'd been here since he arrived this morning, not even pausing in the main floor of the hub to say hello to Jack or anyone who happened to be in early, he didn't feel like speaking to anyone yet. There was a substantial pile of incomplete paperwork, mostly Owen's, to his side that needed finishing, but the young Welshman just couldn't seem to focus his mind on the job at this present moment. It wasn't in his nature to neglect a task, but today Ianto just couldn't keep his thoughts from drifting over to a certain Captain who was currently about residing about four floors above in the hub, busily working away; working with her.<p>

Her being none other than Gwen Cooper. Gwen Cooper who was his work colleague and friend, supposedly, who last night had… well, betrayed his trust at the very least. Despite assurance from both Jack and Gwen that they had no feelings of love for each other, other than those of a friendly nature, Ianto had always felt a niggling sense of irrational, or so he had thought, jealousy over their relationship. He loved Gwen dearly, and would never admit to her face that he hated the way that they would talk flirtatiously together in front of him, or how every time Jack teamed up with her on a mission it made his heart ache with envy. But as much as he didn't wish to lose his friendship with her, perhaps now was the time to have words , what she, they, had done last night had just been selfish and hurtful. Had they not realised that the young man was there, after all they knew he always worked long hours? Had they not known that he saw everything? Well, almost everything; he couldn't bear to continue looking on at the pair voyeuristically and had made a silent retreat out of the hub, leaving them to it.

Seeing Jack carrying her through the cog doors, in a manner similar to that of a husband carrying his newly wedded bride over the threshold of their home, made him feel sick to his stomach; never mind the point at which he started taking her dress off. How could they do that to him? The pair had had always denied their obvious attraction to each other, Ianto would rather that they had accepted it and acted upon it openly rather than behind his back. And it would have been better for poor Rhys as well, to find out early on rather than having his fiancée sneaking around like this in the months leading up to their big day.

And as for Jack, well, had Ianto been foolish in thinking that Jack could ever be committed to just one person, and that he could be that one person? True enough, the Captain had a track history of polygamy and one night stands with men and women of more species than the Welshman knew existed, but just something about the way he acted with him, treated him like he was special, made him think that this was different. The young man found himself suddenly questioning how on Earth he had ever though that Jack was his.

Ianto had never intended to fall for him, but it was undeniable that there had always been a certain amount of attraction between the two men; he was drawn to Jack's charisma , his infectious laugh, his 51st Century pheromones and of course, not forgetting, his handsomeness. And even after that first powerful and life bringing kiss post Lisa's attack on him hadn't even convinced him that one day he would have allowed his heart to be claimed by the Captain. But things just spiralled out from there, he'd never had feelings for a man before and at first labelled it as curiosity, an experiment, but suddenly it became evident that Jack was more than a 'part time' shag to him, even if that was all he was to Jack. When he returned to face the shattered, heart-broken man that Ianto had become in his absence, Jack had done everything to make it up to him and prove that he really cared and Ianto had believed every word and action… but now, now he was cheating on him with Gwen? Now he was…. walking down the stairs to the archives!

Quickly Ianto shot upwards to resume his normal rigidly upright posture, and hurriedly tried to pick up from where he had left off with his reports.

"Ianto" He heard Jack's voice call out from somewhere in the middle of the large labyrinth.

"At my desk Sir" He called back, he's been trying not to call him 'Sir' over these past few months, but it was easier for him to uphold his professionalism than to act as friendly as normal and deny the hurt that Jack had caused him.

"Ah there you are, it's lunch time and Tosh has ordered a chinese so I thought I'd better come and grab you before Owen finishes it all off" He said bounding over to Ianto's desk with a grin plastered on his face.

Unsure of what to say, Ianto simply nodded and pretended to gather up some of his paperwork into a smaller pile, keeping up the act that he had been fully focused on his job this morning… rather than on the precise nature of the relationship between his Boss and his second in command.

Jack, picking up on the sense of distance that Ianto was creating tried to start the conversation once again, but his choice of topic did nothing whatsoever to aid the situation: "The monitor's picking up a pretty large amount of rift activity in the Bute Park area for this afternoon… I was kind of hoping you could help me if you're not too busy"

"Oh, is Gwen unavailable then?" Ianto shot back, in an almost neutral tone. But his response was just a little too quick and a little too curt to be characteristic of the Welshman's normal, professional tone and a long way off the much more affectionate tone he saved for Jack.

The Captain's brow furrowed together slightly in confusion, not entirely sure what he had done to upset the younger man, but he decided not to press it for now. "No it's not that, I just wanted some of your Welsh vowels to keep me company" He replied, smiling, trying to lighten the mood.

The corners of Ianto's own mouth twitched upwards slightly in response, but all traces of a smile were wiped from his lips as Jack continued: "And anyway, Gwen's feeling pretty worn out after last night, I brought her back to the hub and…"

"I know, I saw" Ianto said, cutting Jack off. He wondered if his eyes had ever stretched so widely with incredulous shock as they had done then, why on Earth was Jack actively bringing it up in conversation? Surely if he wanted things to end between Ianto and him he could have let him down a little more gently, especially after they had been through so much together.

Jack, seeming a little confused as to why Ianto was acting so strangely about all of this replied "Oh, I didn't know you were still here when we came back in, well you'll understand then… she's still in a fair amount of pain, and exhausted bless her"

"No offence Sir, but I don't exactly feel like talking about this right now."

"Ianto! What is the matter with you, I mean I could understand if I've done something to upset you- hell I know I do stupid things all the time that I don't even realise I've done- but I would have at least thought that you could put it aside for a minute to talk about your colleague; Gwen could have died last night!" He almost shouted back.

"I think I've a right to be more than a little upset with the pair of you" Ianto began, but then the last part of Jack's sentence hit him: "Hang on, could have … could have died? Wha… what are you talking about?" He asked, suddenly a little flustered and confused.

"Well you said you saw, did you not notice the Weevil bites and scratches all the way down he back and stomach? Owen wasn't answering his bloody mobile so I had to do my best and sort it out – she was losing quite a bit of blood!"

Suddenly Ianto realised that really it had been rather dark when he came up to the main floor of the hub, dark enough not to notice that the dark marks on Gwen's dress was blood and not an abstract pattern. "Oh… so, oh so that's why you took off her… and were carrying…" He said, his face growing very warm with his embarrassment. He'd clearly misread the entire situation, and had fallen slave to that oh so familiar green eyed monster.

"Yes, that's why I was carrying her, and yes that's why I removed her dress. Why, what did you think was going on?" He asked, still a little confused, but at least relieved to find that his favourite Welshman hadn't suddenly become a heartless jerk.

"Well… I… I don't know… I just thought well you two have always… and I suppose I've always been a bit jealous but I thought it was irrational and then… and you were taking her dress off and…" Ianto stuttered, becoming further embarrassed by the second.

He nervously awaited Jack's anger in reply, but it never arrived, instead Jack simply burst out laughing. "Oh Ianto, I've told you, Gwen and I are just good friends and yeah maybe we flirt a little from time to time but I suppose I could even be accused of flirting with Owen on some occasions!"

"So nothing happened?" Asked Ianto, blush fading away slightly

"No, nothing happened whatsoever" Said Jack, still laughing faintly.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"No I'm sorry, that you don't have a high enough opinion of yourself to know that I would never cheat on such a wonderful and beautiful man as you."

Ianto's blush returned slightly "Well, I'm not sure about that… but I am sorry though, it's silly, I'm not even normally the jealous type… It must be nice for you, not having to worry about that."

"Oh don't I ?" He grinned wickedly

"Well, look at you Jack, you exude confidence from every angle, you've got men and women on every continent –and planet – enthralled by you, not to mention the blindingly obvious fact that you're completely and utterly gorgeous" Ianto hurried out, always nervous about confessing too much.

"I thank you, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me in the slightest when you flirt with our delivery girl"

"I do not flirt with her!"

"Sure you don't… but I try not to let it get in the way because I know one thing for certain Jones, Ianto Jones." He said with a devilish gleam in his eye.

"And what's that then?" Ianto asked, one eyebrow raised.

"That you're mine" He grinned and pulled Ianto into a very reassuring, breath taking kiss.


End file.
